Horror of War Exposed in Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front

Barker, with her insightful and direct writing style, succeeds in presenting a microcosm of madness that prevails during war. Regeneration recounts many vivid war scenes, and without drawing conclusions, effectively instils a feeling of vexation against the war into the reader. In presenting his grimly realistic version of a soldier’s experience, Remarque strips away the typical romanticism of war narrative in All Quiet on the Western Front, providing an unrelenting portrayal of carnage and gore. It is a novel of social protest; totally rejecting the war and nationalistic policies; and in doing so, successfully depicts the many horrors of World War 1. Works Cited Barker, Pat.

This rejection of society is fueled by the realization that the pre-enlistment society simply can not understand the reality of the Great War. Baumer then realizes that the only ones that can understand him are his comrades in the trenches. They become his new society and war his way of life. Remarque shows Baumer’s disaffiliation from traditional society by showing his views on the language used by both the pr... ... middle of paper ... ...extbook in a boring class. Baumer never finds this peacefulness; rather he finds the urge to get back to the war and his comrades that were still there.

As the soldier members Paul Baumer’s company are slowly killed in battle, he becomes more and more disillusioned with the war, especially since he and his friends had enlisted with idealistic aims fed to them by their teacher Kantorek. Instead of patriotic glory and poetic war victories, Paul and his friends found defeat and ephemeral triumphs; instead of honor, they encountered dishonor; instead of personal growth and advancement, they found stagnation and watched their youthful dreams die. Through the war experiences of Paul Baumer as depicted in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the ultimate tragedy of war is revealed; it destroys the lives of its very agents – the soldiers – by crashing their dreams and claiming their lives for little discernible overall gain. Going To War Ultimately, Paul Baumer and his high school mates enthusiastically enlisted and went to war first out of a sense of youthful adventure. Barely out of their teens, Paul and his high school mates are not old enough to understand the socio-economic and political factors that charact... ... middle of paper ... ... war as captured by the leaders of the war hardly depicts the futility of war, and only the through the accounts of soldiers on the front does the truth emerge, as it does in the novel – that war is counter-productive.

As the soldier members of Paul Baumer’s company are slowly killed in battle, he becomes more and more disillusioned with the war, especially since he and his friends had enlisted with idealistic aims fed to them by their teacher Kantorek. Instead of patriotic glory and poetic war victories, Paul and his friends found defeat and ephemeral triumphs; instead of honor, they encountered dishonor; instead of personal growth and advancement, they found stagnation and watched their youthful dreams die. Through the war experiences of Paul Baumer as depicted in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the ultimate tragedy of war is revealed; it destroys the lives of its very agents – the soldiers – by crashing their dreams and claiming their lives for little discernible overall gain. Going To War Ultimately, Paul Baumer and his high school mates enthusiastically enlisted and went to war first out of a sense of youthful adventure. Barely out of their teens, Paul and his high school mates are not old enough to understand the socio-economic and political factors that characterized the outbr... ... middle of paper ... ... war as captured by the leaders of the war hardly depicts the futility of war, and only the through the accounts of soldiers on the front does the truth emerge, as it does in the novel – that war is counter-productive.

Why does the world need to kill two million men just because two countries can’t agree with each other? War is devastating to countries and most indefinitely to individuals and soldiers. A war can ruin families, friendships, education, economy, and the minds of innocent people. Most young men, who were just approaching manhood, were pulled of their innocence of childhood, and thrown into a world of rage and destruction. Soldiers that luckily survive a horrific war often find their lives turned completely upside down since they enlisted, and sometimes it is just impossible to forget the vicious past and start over again as a civilian.

War takes away Paul's humanity causing him to become lonesome and inhumane like a wild animal. He discovers the truth that all men are following the orders of their superiors and have nothing to do with laying the foundation of the war. Remarque reveals war to be a treacherous and blood-thirsty thing that soldiers must deal with. War's calamities are life-changing and hair-raising, causes one to lose hope and become fearful of death. War has an ever-lasting effect on its participants and raises many concerns with everyday society.

However, shortly after experiencing the grim brutality of war, Paul and his friends have realized that the ideals of nationalism and patriotism for which they enlisted are simply empty clichés. They no longer believe that war is glorious or honorable, and they live in constant physical terror. Throughout the novel, Paul’s inner personality is contrasted with the way the war forces him to act and feel. In order for any solider to survive the extreme emotional distress that is inflicted by the brutality of war,...

The war killed Robert in a sense that his innocence was taken from him and he had no way of getting it back. War can deteriorate a soldiers mind, body and spirit, much so that it eventually leads to the characters demise. War has the ability to change others, most in a horrible way leaving the person to feel isolated from others and dead. Robert Ross was in fact murdered by World War 1 in the means of the conditions of war, overall aspect of war taking someone’s life and the feeling of loneliness and silence.

It shows the reality many soldiers faced and how they dealt with conflicts back home while they were alone and afraid of death creeping up on them. With the reality of war taking its toll, soldiers coming home to a world they didn't know, a world that had changed and left them in Vietnam to fend for themselves. They slept with wives who didn't know even the smallest of their problems. From nightmares to remembering bad memories, Vietnam veterans suffered it all from extreme depression to the worst, suicide. The real world didn't know how to deal with them and just left them alone.

On top of that, Paul is worried about his mother and even says, “...how can it be that I must part from you...we have so much to say, and we shall never say it” (Remarque 184). Paul understands that he will most likely die in the war, and therefore, he dreads leaving his mother. Remarque adds this detail in to express how war often causes far more grief than ever thought of before. He uses it to show that war takes away much more than a man’s body, that it also takes away a man’s mind, and destroys his family with grief. With only a few ties to reality, Paul must fight through the cloudedness in his mind as well as the war.